Ventient Energy celebrates the approval of 10-year life extensions across six of its operating wind farms

Ardrossan, Dalswinton, Galawhistle, Glenkerie, Lambrigg, and Minsca wind farms.

In total 84 wind turbines will now be able to run for 10 more years, with an overall installed capacity of 191.3MW powering the equivalent of 152,058 homes per year*.

Speaking about the motivation behind the extension applications, Karl Parker, Assistant Project Manager at Ventient Energy, said: “Our aim at Ventient Energy is to ensure the UK does not lose vital green electricity capacity through the decommissioning of our operational assets. It is key we identify those wind farms in need of planning extension to ensure the UK continues its journey towards it’s 2050 net zero targets.”

Ventient Energy worked alongside Joanna Thornton Project Development & Management Services with the support of RSK Environment to plan and submit extension applications to a total of five consenting bodies in Scotland and England between November 2022 and October 2023.

All approvals were received by December 2023, with no objections from statutory consultees to any of the applications. At the Ardrossan site, situated above the town of Ardrossan on the Ayrshire coast, the timeframe from submission to determination was less than 7 weeks.

The six planning applications did not seek to change the operational wind farms, simply to vary the operating life. Ventient Energy has committed to uplifts of five community benefit funds with the exception of one site where the fund was more recently established’.

“We are committed to continuing the maximisation of the environmental, social, and economic benefits our wind farms provide, and this has been achieved through extending the planning consents for a further 10 years of six of our assets across the UK”, Karl added.